Israel Curbs Palestinians’ Phone Service and Travel

Israeli authorities blocked international telephone service in the occupied territories and banned movement of Palestinians between the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Tuesday in an extraordinary new effort to end 14 weeks of Arab unrest.

The moves follow a ban announced Monday on delivery of gasoline, heating oil and other fuel to the West Bank and tougher export controls meant to tighten the economic squeeze on Arab residents.

Two more Palestinians were killed, apparently by Israeli gunfire, as anti-Israeli demonstrations continued during a general strike in the occupied territories. The army confirmed the deaths and said it was checking the circumstances.

The deaths brought to at least 91 an unofficial toll of Palestinian victims since the unrest began last Dec. 9.

The ban on international telephone calls, which is expected to be the most controversial of the new controls, was reported on Israel Radio today shortly after midnight. The move affects 1.4 million Palestinian residents of the territories.

An army spokesman refused this morning to either confirm or deny the report. Beyond the new travel restrictions, he said, “we don’t give details of the various types of other moves that are being done.”

The Jerusalem Post reported today that officials of the military government in the territories also declined to explain the move but added that it “is apparently intended to hamper contact with PLO officials abroad.”

Security officials have said that various new forms of anti-Israeli protest in the territories are increasingly being coordinated with Palestinian groups abroad.

The travel ban is also meant to hamper organizers of the unrest by interfering with their ability to move people and underground literature between Gaza and the West Bank. In another unprecedented move, the authorities this week began imposing a nightly curfew on all 600,000 Gaza Strip residents, forbidding them to leave their homes between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m.

The various bans do not affect Israeli citizens, and the travel restrictions do not prevent Arabs from the territories from traveling into Israel proper. More than 100,000 West Bank and Gaza Strip Palestinians work in Israel.

Israeli officials reportedly decided on the tough new measures after successful initial efforts by leaders of the Palestinian uprising to sever longstanding economic and other ties linking the territories with Israel.

At least half the Palestinian police on the West Bank and Gaza have resigned since last weekend in response to a call by the so-called Unified National Leadership for the Uprising in the Occupied Territories. Officials say the move is slowly spreading among others of the approximately 20,000 Palestinians who work under Israeli supervision to provide services to Arab residents of the territories.

Underground leaders have also mounted a campaign against fellow Palestinians accused of collaborating with the authorities. Two alleged collaborators have died in the violence, and the army has organized fast response units to aid of others who come under attack.

Palestinian sources identified the latest fatal victims of the Palestinian uprising as Arafat Hweih, 22, from Deir Jarir, near Ramallah, and Alam Nasrallah, 17, from Anza village, near Jenin.

There were conflicting reports on Hweih’s death, with residents saying he was shot by army troops but police sources saying he may have been killed by Israeli civilians after their car was stoned.

Palestinian sources said Nasrallah was shot in the stomach by soldiers during a demonstration.